Re: Religious Toleration ?
Alan Houser (troop24@EMF.NET)
Mon, 17 Jul 1995 22:26:38 -0700
Charles S. Robinson <crobinso@CAPACCESS.ORG> wrote:
[snip...]
> The chartering organization's representative met with
> us and during the meeting led a sectarian or Protestant
> prayer which surprised and dismayed some of us. I
> mentioned the problem to our district advisor but got
> no feedback.
[snip...]
> What is the policy in scouting? What should I do? I do
> not want to divide the troop over this issue; but, I may
> be forced to resign if "Scouts Own" is not the accepted
> policy.
[snip...]
As others have mentioned, it is his or her right as the "owner" of the
troop and under the Constitution to practice his religion as he sees fit.
Our charter organization is an evangelical church, and even though
no members of the church are members of the Troop, they are glad to
sponsor us and try to make us feel welcome. Even so, when I was Assistant
Scoutmaster, I could only bring myself to attend Scout Sunday every
other year; it would take that long to get over the previous one.
But they were following their religious beliefs, as was their right.
Interestingly, after I became Scoutmaster, the tone of the service changed
to where I could be more comfortable sitting through it. And this past
year, when I could wear my Shofar award (adult Jewish emblem) on Scout
Sunday, they were quite interested in it and very concerned about how
I felt about the service.
And so, Charles, you will have to make a choice: live with it, or move
on. I chose to stay because the Troop was worth staying for, the church
was very good to the Troop, and I didn't need to bite my lip for very long
at a time.
Alan R. Houser ** Scoutmaster, Berkeley Troop 24 ** troop24@emf.net
** WWW page ** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/t24.html **
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
